Max's Best DVD Picks

New Movies on DVD for Mature Dogs Like Me

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"Iris"
Britain's incredible Judi Dench gives another great performance as British novelist Iris Murdoch in "Iris," and Jim Broadbent won the best supporting Oscar this year for playing her literary critic husband and biographer, John Bayley. It's the heartwarming story of their romance from college days through her battle with Alzheimer's disease. Kate Winslet and Hugh Bonneville also shine as young Iris and John during their college years.
Don't let the heavy subject of Alzheimer's or some nudity (not necessary to the story -- was it necessary to "Casablanca" or "Gone With the Wind"?) keep you from seeing this film, beautifully written and acted. The New York Daily News raves: "A delicately upbeat, even humorous celebration of love!" On DVD from Miramax/Buena Vista. Max's rating: two paws up.

Poirot DVD Collector's Set
I love a mystery (wouldn't that make a great title for a radio series?), and if you do too, I highly recommend this new two-disc set from the PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) and A&E (Arts & Entertainment) television series. The incomparable David Suchet stars as Agatha Christie's Belgian sleuth in not one, but six mysteries (three per disc). Hugh Fraser accompanies him in the dramas set in 1930s London. Video Store magazine reviewer Holly J. Wagner calls them "great bedtime stories for adults -- a pleasant diversion without gore or graphic violence." She got that right.

Max's rating: two paws up, a tail wag, and a long "woo woo woo!" because they scared me under the bed.

New on DVD for Puppies and the Family

"David Copperfield"
Before there was "Harry Potter" for Daniel Radcliffe, the talented boy actor starred as the plucky hero as a boy in this excellent ExxonMobile Masterpiece Theatre version of the Charles Dickens classic. Boys, girls, and the whole family will enjoy following the adventures of David through Victorian England hard times in the 1800s. The always amazing Dame Maggie Smith, also of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," co-stars. The DVD from WGBH Boston Video contains the movie, cast and crew interviews, a poster gallery, and other extras.
Max's rating: two paws up, tail wags, and a "woo woo woo!"

New on DVD for Foreign-born Dogs

"Butterfly"
A boy learns about life from a very special teacher in a Spanish village during that troubled nation's political evolution from monarchy to Republic in the 1930s and before its catastrophic Civil War. Manuel Lozano plays the impressionable seven-year-old with maturity beyond his years and expressive eyes that will linger with you long after the movie. Fernando Fernan Gomez plays the kindly old teacher in a heartbreaking performance. They become great friends until Fascism rears its ugly head and puts them on opposite sides of the political fence. Based upon the short stories of Manuel Rivas, Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez calls "Butterfly" "A beautiful marriage of film and literature. A great movie." In Spanish with English subtitles, this very special movie is on DVD from Miramax.
Max's rating: two paws up.

"The Closet"
I rolled on the floor and howled laughing when my master put this one on the tv. "The Closet" stars two of the best dramatic actors in the world (even if they're not American but French), doing comedy just as well. Daniel Auteul plays an executive who is about to be fired for incompetence, so he pretends to be gay so he can threaten to file an anti-discrimination suit against his employers. How he pulls this off despite the efforts of co-workers including skeptical Gerard Depardieu and beautiful Thierry Lhermitte makes a four-star hit that the New York Observer calls "An outrageously funny comedy that pushes the envelope" and The New York Times says is "The most deliciously fun and liberating comedy I've seen in ages!" The DVD, in French with English subtitles, also is from Miramax.
Max's rating: two paws up and lots of "Woo woo woo's!"

New on DVD for Old Dogs (the Classics)

When I first heard they were "remastering" movies, I ran and hid under the bed. I loved my master. I didn't want a new one. Then I learned the word means making old movies look and sound like new again.
That's a dog of a different breed, and okay with me.

"Hail, Sid Caesar!"
No classic movies released this month on DVD to write about (when will they throw us old movie lovers more DVD bones?), but a DVD reminding us of one of the funniest men and ensemble comedy groups ever to appear on television. "Hail Sid Caesar!" has comedy sketches from the live "Your Show of Shows" of the 1950s and the later series, "Caesar's Hour," plus interviews with the writers such as Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, and Neil Simon, and Sid's amazingly talented co-star, the late Imogene Coca. Sid himself loves the DVD, saying "It's like a rebirth. It came out better than I envisioned because they digitalized it," so the picture and sound is better than the original presentations fifty years ago. And he says it's family fare: "You put it on, and you don't have to worry about your kids sitting there. When we did these, 'pregnant' was a dirty word." On DVD and VHS from Creative Light Entertainment. Max's rating: the highest.

Come now, Jennifer Lopez is pretty and can act and sing tolerably well, but didn't pretty boy Ben Affleck howl to the moon just little too loudly and long in his ad in The Hollywood Reporter? In praising his leading lady in their new action comedy, "Gigli," he extolled her "kindness, dedication, diligence, humility, graciousness of spirit, beauty in courage, great empathy, astonishing talent, real poise, and true grace." An Oscar-winner with Matt Damon for the screenplay "Good Will Hunting," Ben calls himself a writer. But my master says that in journalism school, they didn't teach that "A thousand words is worth a picture."
Or maybe it's just because he's in love with his leading lady. Again.

The American Film Institute honored quality when it named Tom Hanks winner of its 2002 Life Achievement Award. The twice-winner of a best actor Academy Award may be a little young for such an honor, but his films thus far have been in the best tradition of great movies. And he seems like a nice guy. If he has a dog, I bet he's a good master.

If you'd like to know more about the AFI and who won the honor in previous years (Barbra Streisand won last year), go to their web site: http://www.afi.com/tv/laa.asp

Time was when only a star with the stature of Garbo went by just their surname above the title of a movie. Now just about any actor can lop off his first name and make themself sound important. To name just a few of today's actors going by just one name: Leguizamo and Snipes. Come on, John and Wesley. Even Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable were humble enough to use their first names. Or do you boys think you're better actors or more important to the box office?

How can they bring out so many trashy and forgettable new movies on DVD (I won't name them because it only gives them attention) and not yet release "Almost Strangers," a fantastic British television movie, on video or DVD? One of England's foremost current playwrites, Stephen Poliakoff, tells the fascinating story of a British family reunion in which most of the members don't know each other, but over a weekend at a posh London hotel, learn their secrets going back to World War II. The amazing Michael Gambon (pictured, on right), who always makes it look so easy, stars with this year's Tony Award winning best actress (for "Private Lives") Lindsay Duncan; and a newcomer who just about steals the show, the young Scottish actor Matthew Macfadyen (pictured, on left). Are you listening, BBC America? Do I have to sit up and beg before you bring this modern classic out on DVD and video?
For more information on this exceptional movie, go to http://www.bbcamerica.com and search for "Almost Strangers."

You don't have to be a highbrow or an opera lover to love the Australian Opera's new version of the Puccini classic, "La Boheme." It has glorious singing by young Aussie tenor David Hobson as Rudolfo like you've never heard or seen the lovesick character before; British soprano Cheryl Barker as Mimi; and a terrific ensemble of supporting actor-singers with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. Baz Luhrmann (yes, director of "Moulin Rouge") directed this "shamelessly and quite gloriously romantic" production with a young but exceptionally talented cast and updating the story to 1957 Paris. Now on DVD from Image Entertainment.
Max's rating: the highest: two paws up, lots of tail wags, and enough "Woo woo woo's!" to make the neighbors call the dog catcher on me.

		September 2002

	by Max (with Walt Oleksy)